Andrew Pasek, 25, died Tuesday after stepping on live electrical wires in floodwaters in northwest Harris County, according to the medical examiner report. His family said he died in the Bear Creek Village subdivision while trying to rescue his sister's cat from the house she had evacuated.

That is heartbreaking.

A bit macabre, but Mr. Filly estimated 50-75 people dead as a result of Harvey. I am beside myself that he was correct. Hopefully, it will remain on the low end.

I haven't seen much reporting on the psychological impact Harvey will have on folks for years to come. I have friends who are feeling guilty that their homes didn't flood and they remained comfortable with food and electricity. Most of them dealing with that guilt by donating goods and money. Survivor guilt is strong. And the trauma that flood victims suffered is just beginning. This is going to turn to anger very soon.

I have been aware and saddened by the events of Harvey, but the extent of the tragedy really didn't hit me until I read the story of the dead. So many tragedies. And I feel so sorry for the families of the victims, who will probably spend years second-guessing themselves, convinced if they had done something differently, they could have saved them, and grieving that their family members died alone and frightened. Just heartbreaking.

Out of the blue, someone sent me a request today for some of my old Enron research, which I was happy to send along, and the first thing I thought was that I really hope that of all the people who lost everything in Houston, the list includes Andy Fastow, Rebecca Mark and Lou Pai (who I don't know hat he has left in Texas, last I read he was trying to kick a bunch of Indians off his mountain who had historical rights to the watershed dating back hundreds of years....)

Maybe some janitorial personnel will *accidentally* scrub it off or paint over it. After all, it looks like a child's scribble. Just (arrogantly) speaking for myself, but I'd happily accept being fired for it.

Well, some historical building in NY had some artwork to be preserved, and Trump had it removed "by accident". I guess the accidential overpainting will only bother the Trump Presidential Library (IFF Teh Donald and his deplorables find the money to build and run it like a Taj Mahal Casino)...

SLQ wrote:Trump will insist that the convention center pay the big bucks to license his name. Or he will sue. And Cohen will threaten all kinds of bad.

"The people must know before they can act, and there is no educator to compare with the press." - Ida B. Wells-Barnett, journalist, newspaper editor, suffragist, feminist and founder with others of NAACP.

I'm guessing Trump wanted a photo op showing him helping load relief supplies. A relief worker (maybe Houston mayor, I can't get a good look) hands Trump a box. Trump walks over and hands it to the driver sitting in the cab, says something and walks back to the worker who hands him another box, this time pointing to the bed of the cab...

I'm guessing Trump wanted a photo op showing him helping load relief supplies. A relief worker (maybe Houston mayor, I can't get a good look) hands Trump a box. Trump walks over and hands it to the driver sitting in the cab, says something and walks back to the worker who hands him another box, this time pointing to the bed of the cab...

I'm guessing Trump wanted a photo op showing him helping load relief supplies. A relief worker (maybe Houston mayor, I can't get a good look) hands Trump a box. Trump walks over and hands it to the driver sitting in the cab, says something and walks back to the worker who hands him another box, this time pointing to the bed of the cab...

I'm guessing Trump wanted a photo op showing him helping load relief supplies. A relief worker (maybe Houston mayor, I can't get a good look) hands Trump a box. Trump walks over and hands it to the driver sitting in the cab, says something and walks back to the worker who hands him another box, this time pointing to the bed of the cab...

And someone should explain to Trump that the gloves aren't to protect him from germs from touching people. They're for sanitary reasons to protect the people who will eat the food from HIS germs. Shaking hands with people and continuing to "serve" the food is contrary to that concept.

George W. Bush, for all his faults, was capable of looking and perhaps even being genuinely kind and gracious. If nothing else he learned proper manners and humility at Yale. He definitely had a good combination of old money manners and decent Christian values. Unlike a lot of the Evangelical movement I always thought he honestly was true to charitable intentions and his religion, even if I'm not a believer in what that religion holds. (its harder for me to admit a Yalie has any good qualities than it is for most of you to admit a Republican has any )

Gregg wrote:George W. Bush, for all his faults, was capable of looking and perhaps even being genuinely kind and gracious. If nothing else he learned proper manners and humility at Yale. He definitely had a good combination of old money manners and decent Christian values. Unlike a lot of the Evangelical movement I always thought he honestly was true to charitable intentions and his religion, even if I'm not a believer in what that religion holds. (its harder for me to admit a Yalie has any good qualities than it is for most of you to admit a Republican has any )

Trump can't pull off even going through the motions with a script.

I can't tell you how intensely I disliked Bush, mainly because he was a front man for the likes of Cheney, Wolfowitz, Rumsfeld, and that lot. And not too bright. I wanted him out of the White House and couldn't believe he got re-elected (or elected). His moves in the Middle East were all wrong. And I would be thrilled to have him back. Thrilled. Well, maybe happy. But GWB would be an improvement, even with his New American Century entourage.

I don't think W was dumb. The man was graduated by both Harvard and Yale and I know a few idiots who have been through one or the other,but the ones I know who have degrees from both are at least pretty smart compared to the average guy on the street. As to his supporting cast of really terrible people, he at least knew he needed to listen to advice from others and most of them were people from his father's circle, and regardless of their politics you have to admit his dad was more than competent at the mechanics of world politics. You might disagree with what both of them were doing, but with 41 for sure you had to admit that he did know what was doing. W was the son who wanted to please his daddy but wasn't nearly as good as his daddy was. Or that's my take on him. W had a lot of old and right wing hired help and he was surely manipulated by them, but on the whole I think both of the Bushes were good and decent men. I think most of us would gladly trade for either one of them now.

I also think Bill Clinton was a good and decent man, and admit he was wicked smart on more than a few levels, and honestly he would be a great guy to have on your softball team, he related to people like that, even conservatives like me.

Obama is a whole ' nother kettle of fish. I didn't agree with his policies too much, but I also think he might be the greatest President of my lifetime and he is hands down the best public speaker to be President since Kennedy. The longer he served, the more I liked him and I voted for him the second time around, despite having a life long soft spot for John McCain that I hold only because of his behavior in the Vietnamese prison camp.

43 was a terrible public speaker, he flubbed his lines a lot, but even that I would counter to say that if every word you uttered for 8 years was reported in the national press, almost anyone would say a few dumb things. I sure as hell have, and I consider myself pretty smart.

This went a bit more than I started out for it to go, hope I didn't bore you.

pipistrelle wrote:
I can't tell you how intensely I disliked Bush, mainly because he was a front man for the likes of Cheney, Wolfowitz, Rumsfeld, and that lot. And not too bright. I wanted him out of the White House and couldn't believe he got re-elected (or elected). His moves in the Middle East were all wrong. And I would be thrilled to have him back. Thrilled. Well, maybe happy. But GWB would be an improvement, even with his New American Century entourage.

I hear ya. I'm at the point where I'd be OK (not happy, but not terrified) if Pence became the president. At least he didn't have to be led like a toddler when he was in Texas last week. And at least he's not so thin-skinned, insecure, and erratic that he'd easily push the red button if somebody disagreed with him.

I know I shouldn't, but I keep wishing we still had Obama in the White House. I find myself comparing everything that 45 does and he always comes up short. His interactions with the people in Texas are a perfect example. He was trying to appear friendly and concerned but he looked so damn uncomfortable and ill at ease. I've never seen a genuine smile on his face unless he's being praised. It's always a forced grimace or grin. His awkward body language screams, "Get me outta here!" I think the bottom line for me is that Obama is a genuinely sincere, caring man while 45 is as phony as his hair and his sprayed on tan.

rant over but

"I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I am changing the things I cannot accept."
Angela Davis

Gregg wrote:George W. Bush, for all his faults, was capable of looking and perhaps even being genuinely kind and gracious. If nothing else he learned proper manners and humility at Yale. He definitely had a good combination of old money manners and decent Christian values. Unlike a lot of the Evangelical movement I always thought he honestly was true to charitable intentions and his religion, even if I'm not a believer in what that religion holds. (its harder for me to admit a Yalie has any good qualities than it is for most of you to admit a Republican has any )

Trump can't pull off even going through the motions with a script.

I also think W was a decent person. I do believe he genuinely meant well. I also admire his sense of humor. I would take him back in a heartbeat if we had the chance to trade the shitgibbon in. I would prefer Cheney stay away though. He was not a good person, not even close.

"I know that human being and fish can coexist peacefully"
--- George W Bush

I saw W as a jovial guy who first and foremost was going take care of his rich pals in the business world with tax cuts and less regulation. I agree he leaned on his fathers circle of advisors like Cheney and Rumsfeld way too much. I think his Middle East policy was based on extracting revenge on the man who tried to have his father assassinated. He saw Saddam Hussein as unfinished Bush family business. He achieved his goal but and a catastrophic price for everyone involved. I don't think he really cared about pushing for the Christian right social agenda. He wasn't opposed to it. It just wasn't high on his list of priorities.

I think alot of people thought Dubya was dumb due to his mangling of words. I always felt that was unfair. I am reasonably intelligent, but words fail me, or come out all wrong, on numerous occasions. Its almost like a verbal dyslexia or something.

While I passionately disagreed with Dubya's policies, they were ones commonly accepted by the republican party. And while I thought he was a moron to think that the Afghan and Iraq wars were going to be easy (or that we could do them simultaneously, or that we had any reason to be in Iraq) I suspect Cheney did a wonderful job of making sure only information that supported Cheney's goals got to Bush. I read somewhere that Cheney was a master of the system, manipulating who was in key roles, and who had what duties, to make sure only his viewpoint got up to the people in charge of deciding things.

And, I suppose in hindsight, being the guy in the White House when 9/11 happened is the biggest cause of his international blunders. He thought he was FDR, leading the country after Pearl Harbor, when he was really Johnson, leading the country into a quagmire.

But yeah, I agree he was a decent, if misguided, man. And I'd take him over Trump in a heartbeat.